** OPENING DAY PRICING 2015 Pt 2 April - August: Magic, Wonder, Dream, Fantasy **

[kim532]

We booked yesterday. First day open to the public.

The Fantasy August 22, 2015 7 night Western Caribbean.

8C 2A2K [8,9] $5,540.88 just cruise. no OBB, ins or transfers

Kim

 

[lbgraves]

At some point, DCL will have to realize that they aren't getting the people they used to get consistently. They'll start getting a lot of new 'one and done' cruisers. It will be interesting to see what happens with the on board booking with the new rules and the new prices.

Maybe it will happen sooner than later. I told DH that the new dates came out and I didn't move either of our dummy dates. They are both set in early 2015 for now. I seriously doubt that we will do either of them for the prices they were opening day. Most of what I have seen over the past couple days is just insane. Many are more than what a year of college will be for one of the kids. We just can't justify it anymore. Use to be able to book 7-night cruises consistently for under $4000 for the four of us. I'm thankful that we have been able to do as many as we have. Priorities have changed for us and these prices just don't fit our plans.

 

[TifffanyD]

I used to cruise 3-4 DCL a year. Now I haven't been since 2012 due to price and itinerary. I've seen a Lot of new things tho

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

Maybe it will happen sooner than later. I told DH that the new dates came out and I didn't move either of our dummy dates. They are both set in early 2015 for now. I seriously doubt that we will do either of them for the prices they were opening day. Most of what I have seen over the past couple days is just insane. Many are more than what a year of college will be for one of the kids. We just can't justify it anymore. Use to be able to book 7-night cruises consistently for under $4000 for the four of us. I'm thankful that we have been able to do as many as we have. Priorities have changed for us and these prices just don't fit our plans.

I totally agree. Although we moved our dummy date to 2015, after discussing it, it doesn't look like we will end up cruising. Once you add in all the extras, that one vacation would equal two years of WDW vacations for us. It's hard to justify that price. Hoping fall 2015 cruises will be more reasonable or we'll be sticking with WDW!

 

[MsJiminyCricket]

Maybe it will happen sooner than later. I told DH that the new dates came out and I didn't move either of our dummy dates. They are both set in early 2015 for now. I seriously doubt that we will do either of them for the prices they were opening day. Most of what I have seen over the past couple days is just insane. Many are more than what a year of college will be for one of the kids. We just can't justify it anymore. Use to be able to book 7-night cruises consistently for under $4000 for the four of us. I'm thankful that we have been able to do as many as we have. Priorities have changed for us and these prices just don't fit our plans.

The question is when will this make a dent in Disney's plan?

 

[Carlnne]

Booked on Thursday:

Dream July 10 5day (Double Dip)

5E 2A $3338.52 no trns/ins w/OBB


Almost booked but was on black out list:

Dream June 26 5day (Double Dip)

5E 2A $3695.22 no trns/ins or
7A 2A $3535.52 no trns/ins


Had planned to do this but was way more than I wanted to pay!!

Fantasy June 20 Eastern

5E 2A $5428.50 no trans/ins w/OBB
7A 2A $4571.71 no trans/ins w/OBB

My DU agent was great over the last few days!

 

[lbgraves]

The question is when will this make a dent in Disney's plan?

Well, in November many long-time DCL faithful said that DCL's prices went over the line. This time around that is happening again. Eventually it is going to add up. Maybe DCL doesn't want the repeat guest anymore. People know that we have cruised DCL many times and have always asked us for advice. I no longer can tell them that it is worth the money and less expensive than going to the parks -- though the park prices have doubled over the past few years and between that and the FP+ nonsense is off our list now as well. I never thought that I would be in a place where I wasn't planning a Disney trip of some kind. This made me sad in November. I've gotten use to it since then.

 

[lucky1]

Magic 9 night
June 20
10A SPH 3A/1K - 13 no trans/no Insurance
$7413.56 w OBB

 

[bekkio]

Wonder 2-n San Diego cruise to no where, booked on Thursday.
May 15, 2015
Cat 11b
2A/1c (16)
$1300.42
No insurance/transfers

 

[AmyAnne]

Well, in November many long-time DCL faithful said that DCL's prices went over the line. This time around that is happening again. Eventually it is going to add up. Maybe DCL doesn't want the repeat guest anymore. People know that we have cruised DCL many times and have always asked us for advice. I no longer can tell them that it is worth the money and less expensive than going to the parks -- though the park prices have doubled over the past few years and between that and the FP+ nonsense is off our list now as well. I never thought that I would be in a place where I wasn't planning a Disney trip of some kind. This made me sad in November. I've gotten use to it since then.

I agree with this (especially the part about FP+ ruining the park experience - I'm still sad) BUT we did book a summer 2015 DCL cruise on opening day - the July 10 Northern Europe cruise. I don't doubt what you all are saying about the cost of most of the cruises increasing a lot, except that this one cruise - the 12 day NE cruise - does not seem as ridiculously overpriced as what you all are saying about the others. In fact, we have passed on the prior years' DCL NE cruises because they *were* so much more than other cruise lines. But for some reason, DCL seems to have brought the price of this cruise in line with the others - and I'm almost certain the price is less that DCL has charged for similar cruises in past years.

Am I missing something about this cruise? IS it really way overpriced (compared to other cruise lines) and I am just in denial?

 

[Lady V]

Dream 5 night 7/5/15
2 cat 10A rooms
total 2 A/3C (15,14,4)
total--$7508,80.
Deposit of 1439.00 due by 3/30
booked on 3/27

 

[lbgraves]

I agree with this (especially the part about FP+ ruining the park experience - I'm still sad) BUT we did book a summer 2015 DCL cruise on opening day - the July 10 Northern Europe cruise. I don't doubt what you all are saying about the cost of most of the cruises increasing a lot, except that this one cruise - the 12 day NE cruise - does not seem as ridiculously overpriced as what you all are saying about the others....Am I missing something about this cruise? IS it really way overpriced (compared to other cruise lines) and I am just in denial?

IDK about that particular cruise except that we drive 11 hours to FL so adding in the airfare would increase the cost of a European cruise for us. When I was looking at hotels in 2010 there weren't many for 4 people so we would also need to pay for two rooms while staying in Europe before/after a cruise there. I wouldn't want to travel all that way without spending some extra time in the port city at least.

Our experience is with the two cruises we have taken on the Fantasy the week before Easter. Though the date changes, that week is still prime spring break pricing.

2012 $5700 cat 8D [also Maiden Voyage so expected higher price]
2013 $6100 cat 5C [actually paid $3100 & after 2 hours this was the going price for the 5C on the website]
2014 $5800 cat 5C
2015 $8800 cat 5C

 

[Silverfox97]

Our experience is with the two cruises we have taken on the Fantasy the week before Easter. Though the date changes, that week is still prime spring break pricing.
2012 $5700 cat 8D [also Maiden Voyage so expected higher price]
2013 $6100 cat 5C [actually paid $3100 & after 2 hours this was the going price for the 5C on the website]
2014 $5800 cat 5C
2015 $8800 cat 5C

Obsurd. Those price increases are nuts. I'll have to find ours.

I'm glad I've gone on the Fantasy 4 times.....

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[MsJiminyCricket]

Well, in November many long-time DCL faithful said that DCL's prices went over the line. This time around that is happening again. Eventually it is going to add up. Maybe DCL doesn't want the repeat guest anymore. People know that we have cruised DCL many times and have always asked us for advice. I no longer can tell them that it is worth the money and less expensive than going to the parks -- though the park prices have doubled over the past few years and between that and the FP+ nonsense is off our list now as well. I never thought that I would be in a place where I wasn't planning a Disney trip of some kind. This made me sad in November. I've gotten use to it since then.

With ya on the sadness.

 

[Silstone]

Magic June 6 7-night Norway
3A1K (17)
$5168.64 (1610/1610/990/990)
No insurance/No OBB/No transfers/no tips

Booked Thursday Silver member

 

[Anal Annie]

I agree with this (especially the part about FP+ ruining the park experience - I'm still sad) BUT we did book a summer 2015 DCL cruise on opening day - the July 10 Northern Europe cruise. I don't doubt what you all are saying about the cost of most of the cruises increasing a lot, except that this one cruise - the 12 day NE cruise - does not seem as ridiculously overpriced as what you all are saying about the others. In fact, we have passed on the prior years' DCL NE cruises because they *were* so much more than other cruise lines. But for some reason, DCL seems to have brought the price of this cruise in line with the others - and I'm almost certain the price is less that DCL has charged for similar cruises in past years.

Am I missing something about this cruise? IS it really way overpriced (compared to other cruise lines) and I am just in denial?

As DVC owners we will always plan trips to the parks. We realized a long time ago that Disney was going to price us out of going if we didn't buy into DVC. So we did and buying into DVC when we did has allowed us to keep our accomdodations reasonable and gives us severall perks and discounts that we are appreciative of (although the park tix prices have gotten ridiculous).

RE: the DCL cruises we have only ever been able to afford to cruise every few years. Not nearly as often as many people here. We can't fathom how so many have been able to afford to go so often. The idea of going EVERY year and multiple times per year is unimaginable for us. We SOOOO enjoyed our Med cruise in 2011 and I sincerely hope we can return to Europe one day. It was THE BEST vacation ever. I also feel like on a per night basis and for the quality of the destinations and the ports involved that the European cruises are SOOOO much better priced and a better value than the Caribbean & Bahamas cruises. I mean $5K to go to CC and Nassau? REALLLLLLY?! That's absurd. I priced 3 of the European cruises and would've booked one of them in a heartbeat if we could've afforded the airfare on top of the cruise fare. But I know from our Med experience in 2011 that it would end up adding thousands to the cost of the cruise to add a few nights on land and the airfare. I think when the prices were first released the other day that they were a good value. Maybe not quite so much now that the prices have been over-inflated by people putting holds on cabins they later cancelled etc. People just don't realize how how they run up the price by doing that. I would still book one tho if we could afford to get there. INSTEAD, we booked a 4-night on the Dream. I don't like the shorter cruises at all but we really wanted to sail on one of the newer ships. And this trip is for DS who graduates HS next May and he's the one who asked for 1 more DCL. We had an OBB to move and the 5 night ones didn't have the right timing for us (needed to go after July 29th). The Fantasy is just over-priced so we ended up with the 4-night. Even with our OBB disc. I am disgusted with the final price but it is what it is and it may well be our last DCL ever even tho we will FINALLY be Gold after this cruise. This is a cruise we have moved 3 times now and the price has literally gone up by 18% since 2012. 18% increase for a 4 night cruise. I always transfer on opening day and I have all of the numbers from the previous dates we parked it on. I could've booked a 7 night Western in a Jr. Suite on RCCL with a $380 room credit for $1,000 more. But since DS is going off to college later that month I booked it for him. Once he's in college maybe we can afford to book an EBTA one day because he will get out of school earlier. Depends on the dates. They make those TA's so early.

Anyway, I agree with Lisa that the Caribbean is over-priced and I agree with AmyAnne that the European cruises are a better value (for the cruise portion).

 

[babydiver]

14 night WESTBOUND PANAMA CANAL - 1st May 2015

cat 11b for 2 adults $2970.96 with no ins/no transfers/ no OBB


booked yeh...


11 night NORTHERN NORWEGIAN FJORDS AND ICELAND - 29th June 2015

cat 11b for 2 adults $5155.78 with no ins/no transfers/ no OBB


7 night DOVER TO BARCELONA - 3rd August 2015

cat 11b for 2 adults $3307.20 with no ins/no transfers/ no OBB


GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY - we were on hold for 2.5 hours

FYI

Just to say I posted this information above 3hrs after Gold Booking opened and the 14 nt WBPC information hasn't been entered on the 1st page.

 

[chipscinderelly]

7/20/15 - Wonder 7 night to Alaska
2A2k (7, 4 at cruise time)
5C
$8420.28 no transfers/no insurance, includes gratuity and OBB +10% discount
Booked day Gold could book - 3/27/14

 

[kelby86]

May 2015
Eastbound Transatlantic 15 Night on the Magic
Booked 3/27/14

Cat: 9C
2 A
$3,743.18 (Taxes & Fees Included/No Transfers/No Discounts OBB, Etc)

 

[RedSox68]

I was looking into RCCL's new Quantam of the Seas. This ship really looks amazing with impressive activities and restaurants, and a new dining "system" (including a 24-hr station at the buffet - with all day breakfast!!!), and going out of NJ full-time, would be real convenient for us (plus save us the airfare). Unfortunately, they haven't released the schedule for that ship yet beyond April 2015. Curious to see where they will compare to DCL with this ship.

We let both our reservations go. The deposits were too high and the prices were not even within justification. Instead, we booked a 14-day round trip from Seattle for Alaska on Holland America for next May. It includes Juneau and Ketchikan, but also Victoria, Sitka, Homer, Kodiak, Anchorage, Hubbard Glacier and Icy Straits. We got a verandah room for three for 14 nights for less than the 11-night Repo cruise to Dover! So we'll just be happy to finish up the rest of Alaska by sea.